Sized organic derivative of cellulose yarn



Patented Sept. 7, 1948 UNITED STATES SIZED ORGANIC DERIVATIVE FCELLULOSE YARN Ralph H. Balch .Irma G. McCormick, Cumberland, Md.,assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of DelawareNo Drawing. Application July 18, 1945, Serial No. 605,848

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved sizing composition comprisingcasein, and relates more particularly to the sizing of yarns with saidsizing composition.

An object of this invention is the provision of 5 an improved sizingcomposition containing casein which may be employed for the sizing ofyarns prior to weaving or other textile operations.

Another object of this invention is the pro vision of a sizingcomposition comprising casein l0 of cellulose acetate or other organicderivative of'cellulose.

Other objects of this invention will appear from the following detaileddescription.

Yarns, especially synthetic'yarns, are usually treated with a size toenable them to withstand the textile operations of weaving and the like.Usually such sizes contain gelatin as a base. However, gelatin is attimes diificult to obtain and, furthermore, when employed for sizes,requires the use of softening agents such as vegetable oils, sulfonatedoils, sulfonated waxes, as well as penetrants and surface active agents.The use of casein instead of gelatin in regular size formulations doesnot produce a satisfactory size, since none of the various oils andsofteners heretofore used in gelatin sizes has any appreciable softeningor plasticizing effect on casein, so that when warps are sized withcompositions containing casein and such oils and softeners, there occurundesirable eifects such as frost or tear marks.

We have now found that an excellent sizing composition having a basis ofcasein may be 4 obtained if there is incorporated with the casein notonly a nitrogenous base such as an alkylolamine but also an organicester of phosphoric acid. Both the nitrogenous base and the phosphoricacid ester act as softening and plasticizing agents for the casein andproduce an excellent dispersion of the casein when incorporated in theaqueous medium by means of which the size is applied to the yarns.

The novel sizing compositions produced in accordance with our inventionmay be applied to any yarns whether made of continuous filaments or spunfrom fibers of staple length. These yarns may comprise natural fibers,or they may comprise synthetic fibers having a basis of celluloseacetate or other organic derivative of cellulose, or filaments or fibersof regenerated cellulose made by the viscose or cuprarmnonium process orby the saponification of yarns having a basis of a cellulose ester.These sizing compositions may also be applied to yarns having a basis ofa synthetic linear polyamide condensation product, such as polymerizedhexamethylene adipamide or yarns having a basis of polymerized vinylcompounds. Especially valuable resultsare obtained when these improvedsizing compositions are employed in the sizing of yarns made of orcontaining organic acid esters of cellulose, such as cellulose acetate,cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose acetate-propionateand cellulose acetate-butyrate, as well as cellulose ethers, such asethyl cellulose or benzyl cellulose.

The casein employed in preparing our novel sizing composition ispreferably raw casein obtained from skim milk and coagulated by means ofacid, salts, electrodialysis, or by any other known method of preparingcasein in the desired :form.

The alkylolamine employed in accordance with our invention may betriethanolamine, diethanolamine, trimethanolamine, tripropionalmine ormixtures of these amines. However, we preferably employ commercialtriethanolamine, which may contain small quantities of diethanolamineand monoethanolamine. Organic esters of phosphoric acid which we havefound to be suitable are, for example, triethyl phosphate, triphenylphosphate, tributyl phosphate or tricresyl phosphate. However, triethylphosphate has been found to yield the most advantageous results.

The several components of our novel sizing composition are preferablypresent in the following amounts: from to by weight of casein, 15 to 20%by weight of the alkylolamine and 3.5 to 6% by weight of the organicphosphoric acid ester. The sizing composition is normally applied insuch an amount of water as to give a solution of the desiredconsistency, the amount of water varying with the degree of sizingnecessary to produce the desired result in subsequent weaving or othertextile operations.

While the organic phosphoric acid esters are capable of exerting a.plasticizing action on cellulose acetate or organic derivative ofcellulose materials, we have found that the use of our novel sizingcomposition has no adverse efiect on said materials even where thecellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose textile ma-Example The size is made of the following components: Pounds Casein(raw) 50 Triethanolamine Triethyl phosphate 3 Water, q. s. to make 100gallons.

The triethanolamine is dissolved in the water at room temperature andthe casein is then added slowly with agitation over the course of 30minutes. The triethyl phosphate is then added and the solution heated to150 F. and held at this temperature for 10 minutes. It is then strainedthrough cheese cloth and is then ready for use. The sizing compositionprepared in this manner has a pH of 7.0. The size is applied to a warpmade of continuous filaments of cellulose acetate at 150 F. in the usualapparatus employed for sizing warps. When this warp is woven into asatin fabric, the latter is produced with excellent weaving efficiency,the end breakage comprising only 3.9 ends per 100 yards.

When the cellulose acetate material carrying our novel sizingcomposition is stored for three weeks at 65% relative humidity and at atemperature of 70 F., or even at a temperature of 100 to 120 F., theinitial properties are wholly retained Without loss of strength orelongation and no coalescence of the filaments takes place.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is givenmerely by way of illustration and that many variations may be madeWithout departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire tosecure by LettersPatent is:

1. A textile yarn of cellulose acetate sized with a compositioncomprising about 79% by weight of casein, about 16% of triethanolamineand about 5% of triethyl phosphate.

2. rAitextile yarn having a basis of an organic derivative of celluloseand sized with a composition comprising to by weight of casein, 15 to20% of an alkylolamine and 3.5 to 6% of an organic ester of phosphoricacid selected from the group consisting of tri-ethyl phosphate,triphenyl phosphate, tri-butyl phosphate and tricrecyl phosphate.

3. A textile yarn having a basis of cellulose acetate and sized with acomposition comprising 75 to 85% by weight of casein, 15 to 20% of analkylolamine and 3.5 to 6% of an organic ester of phosphoric acidselected from the group consisting of tri-ethyl phosphate, tri-phenylphosphate, tri-butyl phosphate and tri-cresyl phosphate.

RALPH H. BALCH. IRMA G. MCCORMICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,312,469 Freund Mar. 2, 19432,310,795 La Piana et al Feb. 9, 1943 2,262,771 La Piana et al Nov. 18,1941 2,201,992 Dreyfus et a1 May 28, 1940 2,191,654 Haon Feb. 27, 1940FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 550,838 Great Britain Jan. 27, 1943

